Get a dose of nostalgia at the Signals Museum

BY ERIN COGGINS | LIVING 50 PLUS

Imagine buckling into a time machine, setting it to 200 years in the past and when arriving in 1825 taking a slow journey back to 2025. Visualize the evolution of technology from the Pony Express to the cellphone one would witness on this journey. Sounds interesting, right?

Well, time travel may not be an option (just yet), but a visit to the newly opened Signals Museum of Information Explosion is a good stand in.

The museum, located on University Drive, boasts over 2,000 artifacts in the personal collection of former Dynetics CEO, Dr. Mark Bendickson. He and his wife traveled, picking up pieces in various places for over 40 years.

“His interest started with his father-in-law’s radio. It was broken so he handed it to Mark and said, ‘You’re an engineer, fix it,” the Museum’s executive director Gina James said. “So, Mark started tinkering with the radio and got it repaired. And it just started a passion that was fun. It led him to finding more pieces.”

The museum opened on March 1 after four years in project mode, specifically in establishing the design element of the exhibits and the building. The result is an interactive museum that flows easily from exhibit to exhibit.

Visitors start in the beginning of communication exhibit, highlighting how messages and words were spread using horses, then move easily into learning about the invention and success of the telegraph. Here, visitors can test their Morse Code skills using an interactive display.

After guests see whether or not they would make good telegraph operators, they take on the next job-telephone operator, testing their capability alongside Ma Bell, another interactive utilizing an authentic telephone operator switchboard.

“Mark found the switchboard on one of his trips. It’s the real thing,” James said. “The interactive uses an actual map of Huntsville in 1928 and allows visitors to connect two calls from two people who actually lived in Huntsville at the time.”

An impressive telephone collection adorns a full wall and features telephones from every era, including an original seating phone booth from a hotel. The phones are all operational and can ring one another. James says this exhibit is probably the one that gets today’s younger generation the most.

“We had a little guy come in that picked up the receiver but didn’t put it to his ear. Instead, he held it out like we do cellphones,” James said. “He had no idea that you actually had to hold it to your ear and dial from the other portion of the phone. This museum shows them how we had to do it in the past.”

The telephone area is tied to the audio recording era, featuring displays on cassette, 8 tracks, vinyl, the jukebox and wireless connectivity. Visitors can even access a QR code to bring Guglielmo Marconi to life to discuss his creation of a practical radio wave-based wireless telegraph system.

“This exhibit shows how we could finally talk to one another, sky to ground. Wireless communication was huge,” James said. “It changed the world.”

When presenting radios, and from the entrance to the main room, the Museum has a plethora of those displayed, history cannot be fully told without talking about radio repair. A Radio Shack display showcases all one needed to repair radios, including rare advertising and tons of boxed tubes.

“To have found original boxes of tubes is unbelievable. If I am not mistaken, Mark has over 20,000 tubes between the museum and his home,” James said.

A journey through the museum would not be a legit history of communication without spotlighting the television. From a 1947 entertainment center to the console TV that dominated in the 1960’s through the 1980s, guests can see them all. And again, they all work.

“The 1950’s TV room shows how it would have looked going to the store to purchase a TV. We also have a living room set up that shows how families would have gathered around the TV,” James said. “What I find most interesting though is the magnifiers. Some of the TV’s from the 1940s had little screens and people used magnifiers. They would hold them up and could sit on their couch and watch television.”

The museum tour ends with computers, gaming systems, including allowing visitors to try their hand at Pac-Man, and items that show where technology is heading in the future.

Back in the main gallery, visitors can take a gander at the novelty radios that Mark’s wife, Cheryl, collected. A living room display, in memory of Cheryl, is also in the gallery, showcasing some of the most unusual radios, including one in the shape of a collection of books, a teapot and even a lamp. Guests are asked to try to find them all.

Along with the hidden gems of artifacts in the collection, one can also learn unusual facts. Take Hopalong Cassidy. A collection of radios emblazoned with the famous fictional character on his horse shows a difference in the stance of the horse.

“There was an animal activist group that said if a horse was in a position with its leg up, it could be detrimental. It would have hurt the horse to have his leg that high,” James said. “So, in the next batch of radios, they had to change the leg, bring it down.”

Or that a portable Victrola existed. Owners would simply wind it up for three songs before the needle needed to be replaced.

“You could walk into a Great Gatsby party with your own music. I never knew that until I started working here,” James said. “I think it is amazing how far we advanced. It only took the amount of time that Alabama has been a state, from 1819 to now. That is what is unique about the museum.”

James credits the volunteers, especially the ones who love to tinker, for keeping things in working order so patrons can enjoy these artifacts as they once were.

“They love their work,” James said. “They treat their volunteer work like a simple top position. They are retired engineers, retired physicists and they just want to show up and tackle their work.”

Along with the museum tours, James says they host lectures in the main gallery. Their most recent one focused on PCP and the computer. She is planning one on architecture and radios.

“Cabinetry changed over the years based on the architecture in the era,” James said. “In the 1920s, you can look at the cabinetry and recognize the art deco from the Empire State Building. We will eventually have Dr. Bendickson himself do a behind the scenes lecture and tour.”

James encourages the retired community to sign up as volunteers. From serving as docents to leading patrons through the exhibits, there is plenty to keep one active.

“Don’t sit at home. If you have knowledge that we need, come volunteer with us,” James said. “Let this be a place where you can come and tell us the stories of what you have done or experienced. We always need help in the back to get things working.”

Whether volunteering or visiting, one thing’s for certain. The museum exhibits are a walk down memory lane, pure nostalgia with more to come. Although the museum is chock full of interesting pieces, Bendickson is not stopping his “fishing trips.” James says he gets in his van and travels and returns with more. And since opening, quality artifacts are being donated.

“We tell Mark that now the fish are coming to him,” James said. “But the excitement I see when he comes back with a piece that he is passionate about is fun to see. He truly has a passion to collect and restore and share with others.”